Sunday, February 5, 2012

Self-talk

Social scientists say that the average person says fifty thousand words a day to themselves that no one hears. They call it "self-talk." Sadly, 80% of our self-talk is negative, destructive, and hurtful.

How do you stop the river of negative self-talk that flows in our brains?

I like the story of the woman with a baby who was walking around the grocery store saying things like, "Be calm, Elizabeth. You are a sweet girl, Elizabeth. I love you, Elizabeth."

A woman who overheard her said, "I heard the things you were saying to your child. You are a very good mother."

"No," replied the woman, "I'm Elizabeth."

When you hear yourself criticizing yourself, talk back to the negative internal voice.

1 comment:

Have you heard the story of the Indian who told his son how two wolves live inside every man and are constantly fighting? One wolf is a negative, fearful, condescending and mean wolf and the other is encouraging, kind, positive, loving. The son asks which wolf wins. And the father says, "the one you feed.."